The Outcasts
by Shadow Celtic Assasin
Summary: We were alone. We were on the run. We found others like us. OCs, Teen Titans, and the Doom Patrol.
1. Shadow

Seattle was a dreary place to be, especially when it was spring. The rain was cold and stung the skin like needles. I and the other Outcasts were slightly miserable, not that it was unusual for our group. Aura and Militia had started a fire in the abandoned warehouse we had found. However, it wasn't enough to keep the chill from our bones.

"When are those villains gonna stop chasing us?" asked Dan.

"When they can't find us." I stated.

"That is going to takes a lot of confusing the enemy" said the phantom boy. He wasn't as uncomfortable as us. It might have something to do with the fact that he was a dead ghost.

The four of us thought of what he just said. If we split up, the chances of being found would go down and we would be able to fight back at the Brotherhood of Evil without the risk of getting everyone captured.

"All right," said Aura, "we'll do this. However, there will be no back up for anyone. If one of us is captured, there would be a minimal chance of escape."

"All of us are escape artists anyway, and we've shown them that we are already." Militia said.

"Okay, we split up at dawn. I will go north." said Aura

"I'll go east." I said.

"I've got the west." Militia answered with a smile.

"South is mine." Special put in.

"I just gonna float around the country. If I see any of you, I'll say hi." Dan promised.

Dawn came and we split up. I flew east, avoiding towns and cities, living in the woods and catching my food. When I got to the city Midway, I was slightly curious. Dan said that he woke up in this city and that there was a lot of trouble in this one place. As a superhero, it was my duty to check it out. When I came to the downtown area, I spotted a familiar face.

It was Madame Rouge.

I saw her the same instant she saw me. She went into attack mode and attempted to knock me out of the air, but I dodged and flew lower. I fired the red energy I had and hit her to the ground but something knocked me out of the sky. I recovered and found a certain white burglar on one of the tall buildings nearby.

"Do you think we are that stupid, madam?" asked Andre de Blanc.

"Yes." I deadpanned. He shot a rope at me and attempted to pull me down. I simply flew away, dragging the criminal through the sky after me. He only succeeded his task after Madame Rouge grabbed his feet and pulled me down to the ground.

"You are now our captive. No way you will escape from us this time." She said

"Stop right there, Rouge and Blanc." an authorative tenor voice said.

I looked over and was a tad surprised to see a man with an odd helmet, a robot, a woman, and a mummy. All seemed to be superheroes, I mean, who wears spandex unless they are?

The man with helmet seemed to be the leader, his psychic power and leadership aura nearly blinding me. The only other one like that in the group was the mummy. He had a power only radiation or powerful people gave off.

"Let the kid go. And pick on someone your own size." said the robot.

"I will be no help in this instance. I will take the child back to our base." said Blanc.

"Very well. I will deal with the Doom Patrol on my own. Be careful, the girl is a slippery one." She told him with a slight smirk on her face.

"Slippery this!" I shouted. I reached deep into the back of my conscience. I found the darkness and righteous anger inside and let it out. The true form of the Morrigan was not constrained by the ropes that bound me, and they snapped as I grew into the 12 foot high, black bird of terror.

The expressions on Rouge and Blanc were priceless. At least Rouge had the right to scream like girl. Blanc didn't. The white burglar went into a dead faint and Rouge immediately ran. She could see why Private Hive had nightmares after going after this girl. The Doom Patrol simply got out of the way of the frightened villains.

"What are you?" asked the woman in purple and black.

I morphed back into my human form and gave her a quizzical look. They didn't scream and run like anyone else who saw my true form. It made me slightly happy that I found people that were not scared of me.

"My name is Shadow, and I am a Celtic witch." I answered with a small bow. "If you do not mind, I will be on my way."

"You don't need to go right now. We could use someone of you caliber on our team." said the helmeted man. "My name is Mento. This is the Doom Patrol." He introduced his team.

"I'm Robotman." said the robot.

"Elasti-Girl." said the woman.

"and I am Negative Man." said the mummy. "What are you doing in Midway?"

"I was running from the Brotherhood of Evil," I answered. "I was here because I sensed something curious in this city."

"Any others like you?" asked Mento.

"Running away, or with my powers?" I queried.

"Running away." He specified.

"Steve, it is getting dark out. We better head home. She can come along and have a bite to eat." Elasti-girl told Mento.

"She better not be like Beast Boy." muttered Robotman under his breath.

Later, in the mansion that was the Doom Patrol HQ, I had told them everything about me and skillfully avoided the question of other kids like me being on the run. I wouldn't sell out my friends like that, and it was irrelevant to the topic at the moment.

"So let me get this straight," said Negative Man, "You have a goddess inside your body?"

"Yeah." I said timidly. Most people freaked out about that little fact.

"Okay. Anything you can tell us about this goddess?" asked Mento.

"Well, she is the Celtic goddess of the battlefield. She is called the Morrigan." I answered. My hood on my cloak had been up all this time, so they couldn't see my face.

"Does it affect your appearance? We haven't seen your face at all." asked Robotman.

Instead of saying anything, I lowered my hood. The Doom Patrol caught their breath as they saw my face.

My hair was the color of dried blood and in a braid down my back. My eyes were scarlet. I had the Celtic symbol of Life on one cheek, and the symbol of Death on the other. My high cheekbones gave me a slightly elfish face. Thumb knuckle bones hung from my ears as earrings. I looked a little worse for wear, but who doesn't when they are on the run?

"That answers my questions." said Robotman.

"Here is the big question for you. Would you like to join the Doom Patrol?" asked Mento.

I was a little stunned by the question. Join them? I could stop villains and be with people that understood me. It would be nice, but why would they offer me this if there wasn't a catch?

"Do you guys mind?" I asked.

"Not at all." They all said.

After a minute of thinking I accepted. They gave me a place to call home that day. But that was only the beginning of my adventures in the Doom Patrol.


	2. Aura

I flew up north and kept going. I was crossing my fingers for the Brotherhood of Evil were following me and giving the others time to escape. The chances of them coming for me were high. Would you ignore a girl with nearly unrivaled psychic and telekinetic power? I wouldn't if I was them. That is what I was counting on.

My wishes were answered when I noticed a certain general and a young boy with a jet pack giving chase. I flew faster but still kept them within a mile distance. The boy fired missiles and the general signaled his robot soldiers to attack. The missiles outstripped the robots, but as soon as the missiles were 10 feet away, I lashed out with my mind and made them stop and explode. The explosion took out several of the robots, but more were coming.

The robots fired, a rain of laser bullets coming for me. I created a bubble of pure willpower to deflect the lasers. The next projectile to come was another missile. It exploded against the shield, but after impact, the shield fizzled out. I landed and so did my pursuers.

"Well, snot eater, we got you." crowed Gizmo. He thought this was over.

"Boy," said General Immortus, "she is far from tired." He beckoned forth his soldiers.

"What?!" he shouted, "She should be exhausted. Besides, she is no match for a Level 4 containment field!" He fired said contraption at me.

Pain exploded in my body. I fell over, trying to fight off the electrical field causing me this incredible pain. I looked to the sky. Lightning flickered across the sky. I smiled, siphoning off the electricity into energy to sustain me. Both villains were surprised to see me stand up. I gestured to the sky.

I screamed with the effort to conduct the lightning to where the two were standing. The white bolt barely missed them, but Gizmo dropped the device and broke it. I flew away, crossing the border between Idaho and Canada, and flew northeast.

When I landed to take a catnap in the giant evergreen forest that I had been flying over for most of the evening, I set down in the top of one of the tallest trees I had ever seen. The pine had to be somewhere around four to five hundred years old. Closing my eyes, I extend my mind forward and examined the tree that way. Memories from past years of survival for the tree poured into my head. Fires, loggers, and disease had not touched this tree, and likely never would. It was comforting to know that something in life couldn't easily be uprooted. I drifted off to sleep with this knowledge in my mind.

I rose before dawn and set out, grabbing two apples from a nearby wild apple tree. Flying above, I noticed a glimmer on the edge of the horizon. I judged it to be maybe a day's journey away, providing that there were no distractions. I finally decided to fly invisible.

I found out this trick by bouncing all light off my body. The human eye could not see me and only infrared light could expose me. Satisfied that I had concentrated enough power, I let myself become invisible. I then resumed my journey.

Several hours later, I saw the weird glimmer become a steady shine. I almost passed over a city. My curiosity got the better of me and I touched down on the outskirts of the city. The welcome sign said:

WELCOME TO WING CITY

I decided to walk for change, see the standard for Canadian cities. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of crime in the city. I found a bookstore and a coffee shop next to each other and went into the bookstore first.

Lacking any money, I didn't get anything. Walking out of the store, a new site greeted me. A man in an odd looking suit was standing on top of an overturned bank truck. A group of people around my age were fighting him.

"No one can outshine the brilliance of Dr. Light!" the man shouted, firing bolts of light at the heroes.

I knew it was my duty to stop this kind of stuff wherever I went, so I jumped into the action. The ape faced man shot more light in my direction, only to see it stop and come back at him. It narrowly missed him and freaked him out enough to jump off the truck.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why is your face covered by that hood?"

"That is for me to know and for you to find out." I said. I summoned fire from around me and shot it at him. He shrieked and ducked. Standing back up, he shot a beam of light toward me. I countered with a white beam of my own. The force of impact of the two beams blew my hood off.

Dr. Light's suit ran out of juice before he could do much more. He was handcuffed by a teenager.

"Next time, be careful vith who you are dealing vith." The guy said. His voice marked him as either Ukrainian or Russian.

Dr. Light was turned over to the authorities, and the Russian guy walked over to me with the rest of his team.

"That was amazing!" said a small, pink haired girl. She stood next to a caveman.

"It is just part of what I do. Nothing very exciting about that." I said.

A black haired girl with white stars on a red belted dress gave me the once over look. "Why do you have white hair?" she asked.

"Because I do." I answered. I looked up from the ground.

"Gnarrk!" exclaimed the caveman, pointing to my face.

"Why do you have gold eyes too, and what is your name?" asked the pink haired girl.

"I vould like to know that as vell." said the Russian guy.

"Born that way, and my name is Aura." I answered.

"We should head home. Can she come with?" asked the pink haired girl.

"Yes, she can. She could also tell us more about herself." said the Russian guy. He seemed to be the leader.

When they brought me to their tower, I was impressed and a little curious why it was in the shape of a "T". They brought me in and showed me around and introduced themselves to me.

"I can see why they call you Red Star." I said to Red Star.

"How?" he asked.

"You have a big red star on your chest." I said.

Kole was endlessly curious about me. Wonder Girl was wary of me. I could sense her suspicion and slight curiosity of how I got here. Gnarrk was also suspicious of why I had been conveniently there at the right time and place. After dinner, they asked me about my past.

"Would you want to know?" I asked. They all nodded.

"Very well, take a seat. It's going to be a long story."

They all sat down and looked at me.

"I was born in a small town in the state of Idaho. My mom was from Ireland and my dad was from the same town I was born in. I had gold eyes from birth, and the doctors were endlessly curious of this condition. When I grew hair, it was pure white. My parents were slightly unnerved by all this. By the time I was 6 months old, I could talk and walk. By 1 year, I was reading. A month after that, I left my babyish talking behind. When I entered school, I was endlessly teased about my appearance and because I was smart. I never got beat up because I knew when other kids were planning to do so. At 7 years of age, My powers manifested in the way of convincing others to leave me alone. A year later, my parents died in a car crash. Instead of going into foster care, I ran away. I found other kids like me later. The five of us had powers and were on the run from something or someone."

"Who were the other?" asked Kole.

"There was me, Shadow, Dan, Militia, and Special." I said.

"What were their powers?" asked Wonder Girl.

"Shadow was the physical form of a goddess, Dan was a 17 year old musician who died in the 80s, and Militia was a young miner who lost his arms and lower legs to a mine collapse. He was given prosthetics that he later modified."

"And Special?" queried Red Star.

"Special was an attempt by a company to make the ultimate assassin. She was given super speed and strength. To support this, she was genetically modified and trained in the army. The procedure to do this also gave her nearly unbreakable ceramic bone and a healing ability."

"Gnarrk?" asked Gnarrk. I understood what he was asking.

"It did affect her in appearance. She looked like a predator, like a wolf. She could also eat things normal humans can't digest and would get sick from." I finished my story.

The Titans North thought over this. How else could she prove that she was telling the truth.

"Are you telling the truth?" asked Wonder Girl.

The Titans were surprised when I opened my mind and shared one of my memories.

_The sky was a mix of gray and lighter gray. Snow fell down thickly and five figures were trudging through the snow. One didn't touch the ground and floated along. He had the appearance of a 17 year old. He wore an 80s style jeans jacket, high tops, and well fitted jeans. His shirt had a band logo on it._

_The other four were struggling along in the deep snow. Two of the figures wore cloaks, one black, one white. The figure in the black cloak was a full head shorter than the one in white. The other two wore mining jackets and one had on a military style cap and the other a hard hat with a lamp on it. _

"_How much longer?" shouted the person with the hard hat. He was barely heard over the wind._

"_The forest is just a little farther on." Aura shouted in the wind._

_After a few minutes of walking, the small group arrived in a thick forest that sheltered them from the wind. They found a pine tree and sat under it, starting a small fire. _

_The girl in the military cap and mining coat crouched down and tended the flames. Without the cap, her face was fully visible. It was a pointy face with high cheekbones. Wonder Girl thought that she looked like an Amazon warrior from home. The only difference was her eyes were a snapping black color. The boy in the hard hat took off his hat and held his metal hand in front of the fire. His hair was a rich brown and his eyes were forest green. The floating boy was transparent and floated off the ground and sat crossed legged in between the two others. _

_The two cloaked girls were opposite of the fire as the other. One was Aura. The shorter, black cloaked girl pulled down her hood. It was obvious she was the one with the goddess inside of her. Her hair was the color dried blood was, and her eyes scarlet, her face was slightly elfin, and her cheekbones sat high in her face._

The memory ended. The Titans were amazed by the magnitude that Aura made them understand. She had told the truth.

"Vould you like to stay and become a Titan?" he said slowly. He expected to be rejected.

"You guys don't mind?" I asked. They all shook their heads.

"Okay. I will join you guys." I said. I didn't know it, but I started off a series of events.


	3. Militia

I was jogging at a decent pace down the side of Interstate 95. Well, when I say decent pace for me, I mean a good 20 miles an hour. Yeah, I jog fast. Happens when you have modified prosthetics for 3/4 of your leg. You would jog pretty fast too.

As I jogged, I came to a convenience store. I ignored it and kept jogging. If I had paid any attention, I would have seen a red suited boy with a division sign on his chest and a weird red lump on the store roof. Instead I jogged on.

It might not be obvious that my legs were metal like my arms were. If I tried putting on a long sleeved shirt, the sleeves would tear off. This left the arms bare to the world and anyone trying to find me. That is why I wasn't surprised to see the two villains on the road in front of me. I reached into the pack on my pack while I slowed down a little.

"What'choo got in that bag, metal man?" asked Billy Numerous.

I wasted no breath answering as I whipped out a stick of mine-grade dynamite. I didn't light it, because of the damage to the road and the possibility of creating a rock slide. I didn't want to harm innocent people. But chucking it at Kardiak got sucked it up through one of the tubes on the mechanical heart. The friction inside the metal tube lit the stick. Needless to say, Kardiak exploded like a Fourth of July celebration.

Billy got out of the way and began multiplying. Several clones grabbed my arms, but all I had to do was to swing my arms around, and he let go. Other clones piled on me, or attempted to. I was running as fast as I could, smacking clones with my pack as I went. I was about to go my maximum speed, so heaven help any unfortunate sop who got in the way.

The wall of Billys was no match for one hundred and eighty pounds of metal and flesh going 140 miles an hour. They went down like bowling pins, and I continued on my way. I slowed down after passing several cars. I was thankful for some of the mods I put into my limbs.

My final destination was a city sitting on a sparkling blue bay. The welcome sign said:

WELCOME TO JUMP CITY

I was a happy guy. Maybe I could find work as a mechanic here. Some of the best called Jump City home. I picked up the pace and was in the city in 2 minutes. I slowed to a normal walking pace on the sidewalk. There was a lot of people and knocking people over didn't set a good first impression.

My happy thoughts were interrupted by a squeal of police sirens. A car full of masked men was getting away with a lot of money stuffed in the back seat. I began to run after the car, reaching maximum speed again.

I swiftly overtook the car and ran in front of it. Stopping, I lift both hands in front of me, balled my hands up, and slammed down on the car hood. The car stopped and flipped up slightly in the back.

Afterward, the police thanked me and five people approached. They were led by a spiky haired boy with a mask.

"My name is Robin and I lead the Teen Titans here." he said. "What is your name?"

"My name is Militia. I'm a wanderer." I said

The biggest of the Teen Titans came forward and looked at me. I thought he was determined to rip me to pieces when he grabbed my hand and examined it.

"How did you get these?" he asked after examining my hand.

"I was given them after I lost my arms and legs in a mine collapse." I answered.

"How come they are modified?" Cyborg asked.

"I have nothing to do after they respectfully removed me from my job, so I turned to tinkering with my arms and legs. Why do you ask?"

"I haven't seen this good of mechanical work on regular prosthetics before, that's all." said Cyborg. "It's cool to see what you did with these arms."

"The outside isn't the crowning achievement, the inside is." I replied. I extended my arm to ten feet and high fived the green skinned guy next to Cyborg.

"Anything else you are good at?" asked the blue cloaked girl.

"I'm a demolitions expert and good at fighting. Not as good as one of my friends, but passable. I'm stronger and faster than the regular person." I said.

"Really!?" exclaimed the green guy. Something immediately told me not to let him anywhere near my backpack, for it was full of explosive stuff.

"Would you like to come to our home?" asked the last person. She was tall and slim. Red hair hung down her back.

"Yeah! And we can play video games while we're at it!" said Cyborg and Beast Boy simultaneously.

Robin handed me a strange looking device.

"Would you like to join the Teen Titans?" he asked.

"Yay, another male in the tower." deadpanned Raven.

"Please say yes!" said Starfire.

They all, with the exception of Raven, were giving me the puppy dog eyes. I looked at Raven and said,

"I will, and I promise not to be a nuisance."

She gave me a searching look and I felt a familiar pressure in my head as she looked for any false information in there. I momentarily panicked then relaxed, repeating in my head that she is not going to hurt me.

"He is telling the truth." She finally stated.

"ALL RIGHT! LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" hollered Cyborg.

We headed for the tower, me feeling already at home and glad I found friends.


	4. Special

I was completely and totally lost. Good. The more lost I was, the more confused the villains were. Not that they liked tangling with me. My appearance was enough to put off the most serious of characters.

I kept my senses tuned for the sound, sight, or smell of water. The desert sun pounded down on my back, but I kept walking in spite of my thirst. After an hour of walking, I found a water hole. It possibly could make me sick, if I was normal, that is.

I sniffed the water, deemed it safe, and began to drink when I heard a feline growl. I immediately whirled around and saw the big puma behind me. I caught the meaning of the growl. You're in my water, get out.

Instead, I stared down the puma. Most people would never think to do this and not be able to muster the courage to do so. My stare was evident in its meaning. No matter how bad you think you are, I'm way worse.

After the staring match lasted 20 minutes, the puma gave up and left. I went back to getting a drink of water. After I was feeling a little less dried up, I resumed my hiking down south. At nightfall, I reached Obsidian City. The city was a big place, but not silent at night like most cities. The population was doing most of its business in the coolest of the solar day. Crime was also very active at night here. The evidence was that the local heroes were running everywhere.

I observed them from the rooftops. They had split up to maximize their defensive area and be the most effective at handling criminals. I watched a yellow man with lightning based powers roundup a gang robbing a bank.

Another person was trying to catch a criminal with good parkour skills. He jumped to rooftops and instantly became fair game to me. I raced after him.

He hopped over ledges, slid under billboards, and basically tried to shake me off. The poor fool had the disadvantage of being older than me, and tired out fast while I was going at the same pace I had been going for the last few minutes. He finally confronted me.

"What are you?" he said with fear in his voice.

"Your worst nightmare." I simply told him.

The man pulled out a tire iron and tried to brain me with it. He was driven by motivation through fear and had scared strength. I waited for him to come at me. He ran, screaming at me, and swung the tire iron as hard as he could. I ducked under the weapon and hit him in the spot where his arm connected with his torso. He immediately dropped the tire iron as his arm went limp. He swung his other arm, but moving behind him, I lightly hit him where his jugular vein was in his neck. He fell over unconscious. The whole fight had taken less than 30 seconds. I heard a clapping noise behind me.

"Very impressive. How did you do that?" asked the masked woman. She had the others that I had seen fighting following her.

"After he came up here, he was fair game to anyone who could catch him." I said.

"Yes, but normally a person can't move that fast unless they are trained in parkour, or are extremely athletic." stated a samari in the group. "Where did you learn that stuff, ninja-san?"

I laughed. They thought I was a ninja! How hilarious! It was the complete opposite of what I really was. Or had been.

"I was trained by the Army Rangers." I said after my brief outburst of laughter.

"That explains the cap." A blue individual said, "What is your name?"

"Special. My name is Special. Pleased to meet you." I said, offering my hand to be shaken.

"Thunder is my name." said Thunder.

"I am his brother Lightning." said the yellow man.

"Pantha is my name." said the leader.

"And my name is Bushido." finished the samari.

"Would you like to come to the tower? We are done fighting crime for the day, and you look like you need a bath." said Pantha.

I looked down at myself. I was dirty from sole to the hair on my head. A bath sounded like a luxury. I hadn't taken a bath since Seattle. It didn't really count, since the rain washed all the dirt off my body.

"Sure, if you don't mind?" I said.

"We do not mind." said Pantha.

We headed to the tower, Pantha happy that there would be another girl to talk to, Thunder and Lightning happy that they had made a new friend, and Bushido wondering about where I had learned that kind of fighting. I was happy that I would finally get a bath after 2 months.


	5. Dan the Ghost

I floated down to the ground. Today was October the thirty-first. My birthday and Shadow's. I was in the city of Midway, USA. Today was also the anniversary of my death. I had died on my birthday. Did I mention that I was a ghost?

I touched the gravestone of my grave. The description stated that I was born in 1971 and died in 1988. I smiled with the satisfaction of knowing that the undertaker had made a mistake. I had been born in 1970, not 1971. It made me laugh a little at the morbid joke.

But it was Halloween. I should be enjoying myself, not moping over the fact that this was my death date. But if I could become solid again, I would be a lot happier. I was sick of people not seeing me. Back in my day, girls would have killed to be in my presence.

That was when I had been a guitarist prodigy, not a ghost. I floated down a avenue full of children. I was feeling a little happier when I heard a familiar voice in the sea of kids. I looked over.

Shadow was handing out candy. She was dressed up as a witch. The light in the doorway played upon her hair. She looked up.

She immediately smiled at me and beckoned me forward. I floated over.

"What are you doing, handing candy to munchkins?" I asked innocently.

"I'm in the Doom Patrol now. The others are too famous to not be recognized, so I'm handing out candy" She said. "What are you doing here?"

"I got you a birthday present. And I thought I might visit my grave." I said, handing her a box. She unwrapped it carefully, pulling out a pretty red crystal necklace.

"I love it. Thank you." She said. She gave me a hug, being one of the only people that could actually touch me.

"do you have a birthday wish?" I asked. Kids were leaving the avenue in hoards.

Her face lit up when I asked her this. I didn't know why, but it made me smile.

"I found a way to rejoin you with your body." She stated.

"How?!" I exclaimed.

"I went and visited your grave. I was a little curious about how you became a ghost, so I mental scanned your body."

"And the result was?" I queried, strangely excited and horrified at the same time.

"You, in your lifetime, naturally produced ectoplasm in your body. This made you a ghost upon a blow that knocked your soul out of your body."

"That means?" I said, unsure where this was going.

"You can return to your body, but still become a ghost." She finished.

"So you want to do this?" Shadow asked.

"Yes." I told her. "We go right now."

"Hold on. Mento, I'm going on patrol. Be back in 30 minutes." Shadow yelled down the hall and bolted to her room to change into her uniform.

"No more, no less." The stern faced leader of the Doom Patrol said as he looked around the corner. His eyes widened at the sight of me and opened his mouth to say something, but Shadow came around the corner at top speed, ran out and slammed the door. Mento blinked, shook his head, and went back into the living room, puzzled over the strange sight he just saw.

We flew over the city, hearing kids' squeals of delight and harried parents yelling at their kids. It wasn't long until we came to the cemetery, the last rays of light from the sun fading away. We looked all over until I saw something not good. I tapped Shadow's shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What is that thing hanging from the tree?" I asked.

There seemed to be a weird black cloud hanging over my grave. It buzzed with a noise similar to killer bees. A stench of rotten meat filled the air. It felt … evil. Not those villains taking over the world evil, but pure malevolence in a physical form of a punching bag. It sat there, possibly waiting for me. I started feeling weak, like I was dying all over again.

"Leave. NOW." Shadow growled. The cloud wavered and I felt a little better.

"I will not ask again. LEAVE!" shouted Shadow. She summoned her scythe and brandished it at the cloud. The cloud wavered and disappeared.

"What was that?" I asked, feeling completely better, but still scared.

"It was all the hatred, fear, and anger in the graveyard." said Shadow "It being Halloween made it stronger, because the metaphysical and physical are the closest on this date."

"Why did it leave after you pulled out the scythe?"

"I knew a thing from the dark would obey the wishes of a more powerful dark creature. I am the Morrigan after all."

"I see." I said. "So we found the true meaning of Halloween. So now what?"

She closed her eyes and gestured to the ground. My body phased through the ground. It looked like when I did back then. I floated over and remerged with my body with a flash of light.

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand. I was alive again and felt like a million bucks!

"Thank You!" I said, giving Shadow a spine-breaking hug.

"You can still turn into a ghost." She said.

"Really?"

"Try for yourself."

I thought and I began to float off the ground without any effort. I then looked Shadow's communicator time.

"30 minutes is almost up! We better get back fast!" I shouted. I picked up Shadow in a wife carry and flew back as fast as I could. There was four people waiting on the doorstep, looking between angry and worried.

"Where have you been?" asked Mento, his voice dangerously quiet.

"Patrolling, sir." said Shadow.

"Who is this guy? And why does he fly?" asked Elasti-Girl, sounding very concerned and a little angry.

"Sirs and madam," I interrupted, "I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I needed help and this kind girl offered to give me help, so I helped her get back home."

"You were that ghost standing on the doorstep before she left, weren't you?" said Mento.

"Indeed I was, she is an old friend of mine, and I needed help getting something back."

"Like what?" asked Negative Man"

"My body, to be exact." I said.

The Doom Patrol immediately went pale, because I demonstrated my ghosting ability as I talked. I floated off the ground and did a couple of loopdeloops, nothing fancy.

"So you see, there is no reason for you to shout at her. I will now take my leave."

"But-" said Mento, who made the move to grab me. I flew up and left the city. I was alive. I was back.

Mento was not pleased. The boy had scared him when he was standing on the steps, now he was just gone. Vanished like a puff of smoke. He looked over at Shadow, fully intending to give her an earful, when he saw how tired she looked.

"Shadow, who was that?" he asked.

She yawned, "Someone who I haven't seen in a while." She looked down at the simple yet beautiful circle pendant of red jasper and smiled. "Maybe I'll see him again."


	6. Stuck in Love and in the closet

I was getting used to routine of being part of the Titans. Every morning, I rose before dawn and meditated. No one bothered me after Gnarrk had surprised me and got a mental slap for yelling in my ear. He felt better after a day or so.

I began to hum, rising off the floor, and searched the city with my mind. The people here were not accustomed to protecting their minds, so I heard a lot of static noise while she looked for trouble in the city. She deemed the city at peace and returned to her own body. I now a crick in my neck from sitting still for so long.

"Any trouble in the city?" asked Red Star.

"Not any that I felt." I said as I massaged my neck.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

"Do what?" I questioned.

"Float like that. It is like you barely have to concentrate to do so. And you can just scan the city with a thought." He said.

"It took many years of looking out for trouble and sometimes it's not as fantastic as you think. When my power first manifested, I barely could lift a pebble."

"Hi see. How long did it take to learn to float?" he asked.

"Two years."

"Oh."

"BREAKFAST'S READY!" shouted Wonder Girl. We left my room and headed to the living room.

It was the morning for Kole to cook breakfast. She was a good cook and we were having eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns with toast. The smell of the hot breakfast was enough to make my stomach growl. We sat down and began to eat.

I was nearly done when something pinged in my head. Something was going on in town. Something destructive.

"There's trouble in town!" I said, standing up so fast that I knocked over my chair.

"What is it?" asked Wonder Girl.

I reached out for the threat. It was Psimon and Kyd Wyykyd chasing someone very familiar to me. It was Dan. What puzzled me was that Dan's entire self felt a little different.

"They are after someone. I don't have the details quite yet, but whoever it is, they need help." I said.

"All right. Titans, Move Out!" commanded Red Star. We all flew out the door.

We arrived to see Psimon trying to subdue a very fast blur of blue light. The blue light was moving at a speed that might have made Kid Flash jealous. It moved into a car and did not come out.

"A coward is what you are! Come out and fight!" shouted Psimon. Instead, the car's engine revved, and the car began to move on its own accord. It slammed into Psimon and threw the psychic farther down the street. Kyd Wyykyd phased through the car and pushed Dan out of the car. Dan became solid and dropped through Kyd Wyykyd's half solid arms. Before hitting the ground, Dan turned into a complete ghost and flew back at Kyd Wyykyd and punched him hard enough to knock him out.

Psimon launched a piece left over from the car at Dan, knocking him out of the air. He fell to the ground and laid there.

The psychic fired a beam of pink energy at Dan's unconscious form. I jumped in front and blocked his mental attack. He stared at me and attempted to take control of my mind.

I sensed surprise from him as I began to fight back. To the innocent bystander, we would look like we were having a staring match. What was really happening was a battle of wills, both of us trying to take control of each other's mind and immobilize the other. Psimon was good, but was steadily losing as I hammered away at the defenses around his mind. I found a little gap in the wall of his defense and immobilized him. I opened my eyes and was satisfied to see him frozen, a look of horror on his face.

The police took the villains away to the jail. I helped Dan up off the ground when he regained his conscience.

"Wow, you are powerful. I didn't believe it when Shadow told me." He said.

"How nice of her to say such a kind thing to me. How is she?" I asked.

"She is in the Doom Patrol. She also has gotten more powerful." He said as he dusted himself off and turned solid.

"Who is tis?" asked Red Star.

"My name is Dan Halan." He said, "I am a former musician and a ghost. And you are?"

"My name is Red Star," Red Star answered, "and I am the leader of the Titans North. You know Aura?"

"She and I were part of a group of runaways called the Outcasts. We've known each other for a long time." said Dan.

"That is nice and all," I said, "but how are you solid now?"

"Shadow helped me get my body back at the Midway Cemetery. I am now not a dead man. Anymore questions?" he said.

"Nope. Just vondering why you are here." said Red Star.

Dan's face clouded over with an expression of anger. "You're a Russian." He stated.

"Dan," I said, "It isn't the 1980s anymore. Russia and America are at peace, and you don't need to stir up trouble over nothing."

"Okay, just takes some getting used to the here and now." Dan said, "I'll be going now. See you all later!" He turned ghost and flew off.

"Vhat vas that all about?" said Red Star, a little curious about the weird expression of hatred on Dan's face.

"He lived in a time where Russia and America where on the brink of war, he is still a little startled to see the peace in the world." I said. "Don't take personally."

"I vill not." He said.

"Now that there is nothing else to do," said Kole, "should we head home?"

"Gnarrk!" said the caveman, confirming the good idea.

"Okay, let's head back." Red Star agreed. We headed back to finish our breakfast and do a little training.

Later, I was walking around the tower, trying to find a still, calm place to read a new book I found in a secondhand book store. It was 10:00 at night. I was walking past an open maintenance closet when I was tackled into the closet and the door locked when it closed.

"How did you not trigger the alarm, intruder?" growled a Russian voice.

"Red Star, you butthole! It's me, Aura!" I said, conjuring a white light in my hand to see in the dark closet with.

"Oops, sorry. I thought you were an intruder. Are you okay?" he asked. He blinked in the bright light. The closet was not very big in the first place, with two people in it made it very small.

"As okay as a 110 pound person is after being tackled by someone nearly twice her size is." I grumbled, checking my ribs to make sure that they were okay.

"How can we get out of here?" said Red Star. "Da door vill not open."

I touched the door and willed it to open. The door stayed stubbornly closed.

"Great, we're stuck." I deadpanned. "Good one." At least I didn't need to fold nearly in half to fit in here like Red Star, who was also stuck upside down.

"I said I'm sorry. Anytig else I need to say?" he said sarcastically.

"No, but I'm sorry for snapping at you, and why are you red in the face?"

"Because I am in a confined space with a girl, that's why! I also don't like small places."

"So, many guys would pay for a chance like this. So stop your grumbling. And why be nervous around me?" I said. There was a long pause and he looked away.

"Because I like you…" He muttered.

"Say what? I can't hear you when you mumble." I teased.

"Because I like you. Happy now?" Red Star said, looking a little grumpy that he was made to admit it.

"It's okay." I said, patting his shoulder. "Now for our present problem, how do we get out?"

"I do not know. Do I look like ah mechanic to you? Do you have an idea?"

"Yep." I said, phasing my hand through the wall and tripping the opening mechanism in the wall. The door opened and we got out of the closet. Red Star took a deep breath and stretched.

"Hi thought hi vas going to die in there." He said.

"Out of claustrophobia, or passing out from being near a girl?" I teased, poking him in the shoulder.

"Maybe both…Hey!" he said.

"Don't stress over it. Good night." I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. His face instantly became red and his mind went blank. I skipped back to my room and shut the door. I was a little happy that I had some one that liked me, but was it a good thing to be in love when your job prevents stuff like that from happening? I fell asleep before I could find an answer to my question.


	7. Past Revealed

I liked it in the American South. It was warm, people didn't give me any second looks for her appearance, and I have friends.

However, some of the said friends liked to play pranks on me. Thunder managed to wake me up at 2 in the morning but said it was 8 at night to make me feel like I missed an entire day. I didn't fall for that one and got back at him later by booby-trapping his door with a bucket of scalding water. Lightning tried taking my new katanas I forged the day before, I got him with a makeover and makeup. Pantha was happy to help me with this endeavor.

Now I was watching the rooftops in the middle of the day, watching for suspicious activity. My Army Rangers cap shaded my eyes from the harsh sun, and my regular clothes marked me as an innocent bystander until I started chasing the escaping criminals.

These poor sops tried to get away by driving. I parted from the crowd and gave chase by jumping on top of the police car and riding it like a skateboard. I waited until I became satisfied the speed of the car, pushed the button on my shoes, and the wheels popped out. I jumped off the car and began skating after the robbers at 90 miles an hour.

Most people afterwards would ask the police who I was. They would shrug and say that I was a Teen Titan. They would shake their heads and ask more questions.

I finally caught up after dodging through traffic on the skates. I jumped on to the back of the car and deactivated the wheels on my shoes. Taking my katanas out, I stabbed through the roof and began to saw through it. I finally succeeded and hit the driver's hands with the flat of the blade and forced him to stop. He gladly obliged.

After the police took the crooks away, Pantha said we were to report to the tower. When we got there, Robin was on the big screen.

"Titans South, I have an important announcement." the Boy Wonder told us.

"What is it?" asked Bushido.

"I have invited all of the teams to a celebration for defeating the Brotherhood of Evil a few months ago. I thought all of us could get together and have some fun time." He said.

"GIVE ME BACK THAT!" screamed Cyborg in the background. I saw a familiar boy running away as fast as he could from the angry man.

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU! I'm making an important call, and you should be cleaning!" shouted Robin.

Immediate silence was heard. Apparently the threat of Robin's wrath was enough to stop Militia and Cyborg from killing each other.

"We will be there as soon as possible. When is this celebration?" asked Pantha.

"Tomorrow. I have to go before those two start fighting over the monkey wrench again. Robin out." The screen went black.

"Get packing, we are leaving in 3 hours." said Pantha. We all raced to our rooms to pack.

I didn't have much to pack except an extra change of clothes and my weapons. I was done in 20 minutes. Wildebeest and Bushido were done right afterwards, and a minute later, the rest of the team were ready. We started up the ship and started heading in the direction of Jump City. I was wondering where I had seen the boy being chased by Cyborg before.

After a day of traveling in the T-Ship, I was ready to hit the ground running when we got there. When we entered the living room, there was a multitude of other teenaged super heroes. I looked around the room and spotted a group of people I thought I would never see again.

The rest of the Outcasts, minus Shadow, were here and talking to each other. Militia was the boy in the screen when Robin made the call to our tower. He beckoned me over and I sauntered over.

"Nice seeing you all again," I said, "Do you guys know where Shadow is?"

Dan spoke first. "She is in the Doom Patrol and getting good at beating up villains." We all nodded with approval at her choice of place to be.

"How have all of you been?" said Aura. Acting like the mother again.

"I have been fine." I said. "I have gotten better with my talents."

"I've been running around messing up the Brotherhood of Evil's plans before I got my body back with the help of Shadow." Dan said. "After that, I saw Aura up in Wing City and joined Titans East. They have been glad to get my help."

"I have been learning mechanics from Cyborg and helping the guys here. Not much besides that."

"So you all know each other?" said Robin, who had been listening to us the entire time. Everyone was looking at us with looks to explain ourselves.

"Please," said Starfire, "tell us how you all met."

We looked at each other and sighed.

"All right, but it is a long story."


	8. Our Mem ories and Story

Aura started off the story.

"We all met because we were all runaways. Social services were after us, the Brotherhood of Evil after we managed to lose the social services people. They wanted to recruit us to become villains because we were good fighters and powerful individuals. We refused to join them, so they decided that they wouldn't risk us becoming heroes to eventually defeat them. They tried to exterminate us."

I was next. "I had lost my arms and legs in a mining accident and given odd glares prosthetics. Shadow was a runaway from the Irish city of Dublin and has the ability to turn into a goddess and use magic. Aura was a psychokinetic person. Dan had died in 1988 and came back as a ghost. And Special was a company experiment to create an ultimate assassin."

"What did you guys do while you were on the run?" asked Raven.

"We protected people and animals, rid small towns of monsters, and sometimes dealt with things of the supernatural kind." said Dan. He was floating off the ground. "Most supernatural and monstrous things had something to do with Shadow most of the time."

"Hold on," said Bumblebee. "You are meaning to tell me that you all are experienced heroes? And you had been running away for how long?"

"Three years." Special said.

One of the Tiny Titans asked, "What was the scariest thing you encountered?"

I looked at the kid. He was about the same age as my little sister Ember. I knelt down and looked him in the eye.

"Do you really want to know, Timmy?" He nodded.

"Not my fault if you get nightmares." I said. I looked at Aura and nodded.

She opened her mind and began to share memories.

_The pine forest was quiet and dark. We had left the Jersey Turnpike behind and forged deeper into the woods with flashlights and in Aura's case, and ball of white light._

_Shadow shivered as she pulled her cloak around herself. We were in a circle as we walked, not wanting to be surprised by anything while we walked in the forest. _

"_What is this place?" Militia asked, pointing his flashlight into the endless darkness surrounding us._

"_The Pine Barrens of New Jersey." said Special. "Great place for raising cattle and the supposed home of the Jersey Devil." She sniffed the air. "I don't like this place."_

"_Me neither." Shadow whispered. She sounded a little frightened._

"_Oh come on! I would know if the was something wrong with this place." Dan said, giving off his own ghostly glow as he glided along._

"_I'm lonely…" _

_We all jerked to attention and Aura raised her hand with the light higher. "Who is it?" asked Aura, not sounding afraid._

"_So lonely…Would you join me?" came out of the darkness. A gangly figure stepped into the clearing._

_As soon as the light showed its features, the group regretted it. The thing was seven feet tall and walked with a shuffling movement. It was a skeletal person, except its eye sockets glowed like the embers of a dying fire, and it had an extra joint on each limb. _

_All the lights went out, except for the glow that Dan gave off. The group went into a defensive position and activated powers and weapons. Shadow was shaking so bad that her scythe was rattling._

_The monster struck Special first, knocking her out. She fell down. The others never knew until they heard the thump of her hitting the ground. One by one they all fell, until Shadow was the only one left standing._

_Shadow conjured up a light to see, and saw the monster walking toward her at a leisurely pace._

"_Finally," it said, "fresh meat."_

"_You leave them alone!" shouted Shadow. She rushed forward, the light extinguishing as soon as she moved. She brought down the scythe and a shriek and a sickening whump sounded in the forest. She found the others and revived them._

"_Are you guys okay?" she queried, afraid that her friends were dead._

"_We're fine." said Dan as he sat up. "How did that thing touch me?"_

"_It must not fit in the natural way of the world." said Aura. "But I believe we found the root of the Jersey Devil legend."_

"_How did you defeat it Shadow?" asked Militia._

"_I don't think I want to look. All I know is that it's dead." Shadow stated. The others looked at one another and decided to drop the subject._

"_Join hands and walk out of the clearing slowly." Aura told the group. "No way of knowing if there is more than one."_

_They all joined hands and walked out of the clearing._

The memory ended and the Teen Titans looked at the Outcasts.

"That took a lot of guts." Cyborg said.

Everyone looked at the newer members with respect. They had been through hell and back and still were human beings who could function in life. That did take a lot of guts.

"Does Shadow still not like that thing to this day?" asked Raven.

"You would have to ask her." Special said.

"Meanwhile, LET'S PARTY!" shouted Cyborg and Beast Boy in unison. All the Teen Titans cheered and made a beeline for the food. Red Star went up to Aura.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." He said.

"You don't need to be sorry. It was turning point in our lives, most of all for Shadow." Aura said. "She knows that nothing can come between her and friends. And we better get some food before Kid Flash and Mas y Menos eat it all in their eating contest."

"Agreed." said Red Star. The pair headed for the table for Cyborg's patented homemade spaghetti, complete with meatballs.

Mas y Menos were eating as fast as they could as they could. But they could not beat Kid Flash or the eating machine known as Cyborg.

"Hombre, comes rapidas!" Mas said to his brother Menos.

"Uf, mi no como mas." Said the twin as he pushed his plate of half eaten food away.

"Pero-" Mas objected as Bumblebee took away the plate.

"You don't want to be that sick again, do you?" she said with one raised eyebrow. The positive twin perceived the spoken threat and stopped protesting.

"I win!" said Kid Flash as he did a super-fast happy dance.

Cyborg admitted defeat and looked around the room. Speedy, Aqualad, Thunder and Lightning were sitting at another table, possibly scheming and planning pranks as usual. Raven and Starfire were at a table with Jinx, Kole, Special, and Aura, talking about makeup and other girl stuff. Well, Special, Raven, and Aura just sat and listened.

Jericho was with Herald, Dan, and the other guys at a table with Beast Boy, talking about any subject that came to mind. The group took up two tables.

Cyborg also noticed who was crushing on who. Seeing Speedy glancing at Special from time to time made Cyborg take a picture with his bionic eye and save it for blackmail later. The arrogant archer deserved it sometimes, in Cy's opinion. To his surprise, Dan wasn't flirting at all. Instead, he was talking and occasionally glancing out the window. Either he was looking at his reflection or waiting for someone. It wasn't much of his business who Dan liked.

Raven was not doing much of talking with her fellow girls when Aura spoke to her.

"I was just wondering, but what kind jewel is that on your Agni chakra?"

Raven was stunned. "You know about chakras?" she said.

"Yes, the Agni chakra is also known as the third eye. It is the chakra that directs all psychic energy in the body." She replied.

Raven and Aura began swapping knowledge and tips for meditation and other stuff. Raven had been a little suspicious when she said that, because the last person to compliment the chakra had been Blackfire, and she turned out to be a measly crook.

After dinner, the party turned to setting up a gaming tourney, which all of the boys and Special and Pantha joined in. The rest of the girls just sat and watched. The tourney was won after a nail biter of a match between Cyborg and Militia. Cyborg won by a tenth of a second in the race.

"BOOYAH!" Cyborg cried out. Militia threw up his hands in defeat.

"Hey Dan," said Herald. "You were a rock star, could you play some tunes for us?"

"I would be happy to." said Dan as he cracked his knuckles. He walked over to the guitar case he left in the corner and opened it. He brought out a electric guitar, plugged it into the sound system, tuned it, and got a microphone from Cyborg.

"This song I heard from a guy by the name of Kenny Loggins. He made this song for a movie called "Top Gun"." He said. "It goes something like this."

"_Revvin' up the engine, listening to her howlin' roar. _

_Metal under tension under tension, begging you to touch and go._

_Highway to the Danger Zone._

_Ride into the Danger Zone._

_She got you driving into twilight, spreading out her wings in flight._

_She got you jumping off the edge, shoving into overdrive._

_Highway to the Danger Zone._

_Take you right into the Danger Zone._

_You never say hello to you until you get it on redline overload, and never what you can do until you get up as high as you can GOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

The rest of the Teen Titans were amazed that not only was Dan pitch perfect, but singing like KENNY FREAKING LOGGINS! That took some talent! And his guitar playing was time perfect and riveting. The guitar solo ended.

"_Out on the edge, always where I burn to be._

_Further on the edge, the hotter the intensity._

_Highway to the Danger Zone. _

_Gonna take you right into the Danger Zone._

_Highway to the Danger Zooooooone._

_Ride into… the Danger Zooooooooone._

Dan made his voice fade away, like he was walking out the door and moving farther away. The room was silent for three seconds. Then everybody cheered, whooped, and hollered in appreciation. Dan took a bow and put away the guitar and the cords to the amp away.

"That was AMAZING!" said Beast Boy, a huge grin on his face. "And you have mad guitar skills to!"

"Yeah! And we have Rockband for our Game Station." said Cyborg. "You know you want to plaaaaaaaay." He wheedled. Dan lifted an eyebrow and thought about it.

"Sure, I'll play." He finally said. He jumped over the back of the couch and began to hook up the system. Most of the girls except Pantha retired to Raven's room for a sleep over. Pantha was watching when Militia came over.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

Pantha replied "Good. And you?"

"About the same." He said. He stood up fully. Pantha noticed that he was as tall and had some muscle on him. Not like Red Star or Wildebeest, but not scrawny like Robin was. Militia was somewhere in between. His muscle also didn't come from fighting villains or lifting weights, but from working all day in a coal mine.

She looked away when she realized she was staring at him. He looked over and quirked an eyebrow.

"It's nothing." She said, hiding the blush on her cheeks.

Militia smiled and put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek. She blushed more and looked at him.

"Would you date me if I asked?" Militia asked her.

All Pantha could do was nod. She probably couldn't trust her voice at the moment. Militia gave her another kiss on the cheek.

"Good night." He whispered as he headed to bed.

"Buenos noches." She whispered.

The rest of the late nighters went to bed. Pantha was unbelievable happy as she closed her eyes to go to sleep. She had a boyfriend now. Life was perfect as a superheroes could be.


End file.
